The Veteran and The Hero
by Queenicakes
Summary: The Idiot Hero and the Insane Veteran equal L O V E. This will contain drabbles of the FlippyxSplendid variety, with various other hints of pairings. Updates will probably be erratic and the genres will vary from Fluff to Angst and everything in between. Current drabble series is Zombie Apocalypse.
1. Twisted Meetings

Woo Happy Tree Friends! :D

Anyway this will be a series of drabbles containing FlippyxSplendid, cause I love that Pairing, so much! And this section needs more of it! 3

Anyway, Warning(s)!  
>Contains: Yaoi, Seme!Flipped out!Flippy, gore, language, uhm...biting? AND humanized HTF...so if any of this bothers you, I'd suggest you click the back button XD<br>Pairings: FlippyxSplendid Implied HandyxPetunia

Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends, if I did, I'd have it made into an anime :3

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><p>The Veteran and the Hero<p>

Ch. 1

Splendid's sky-blue eyes flew open in shock as Flippy crushed his lips against his own. "Wh-wha-?" he tried to stammer into the forced kiss, but was cut off abruptly by Flippy biting his lower lip sharply, breaking the skin and drawing blood. Tears sprang to Splendid's eyes at the stinging sensation as the older male ran his tongue over the abused skin, soothing the pain. "How the hell did I get myself into this…?" he wondered as the green-haired male pushed him roughly against the nearest wall, never breaking the fierce kiss. "Oh yeah…I remember now…" he thought wearily.

Splendid had been picking up some more bread from the local bakery, when he had heard the sound of screaming coming from the old parking lot only a few blocks away. He dashed out of the store, tearing off his tan trench coat in the process to reveal a casual sky-blue tracksuit, also removing his unneeded glasses. He was the hero of this city after all, and he had to protect the civilians! In a few short minutes, he had arrived at the site where he had heard the screams coming from.

He stopped at the entrance and stared in horror. Blood, everywhere, the ground seemed to be dyed crimson and corpses littered the ground in various states of dismemberment. He felt bile rise to his throat as he recognized them as his friends.

There was Giggles, both of her eyes were torn out, just bloody sockets left. Next to her was Flaky, so mutilated you could barely tell it was her, the only indication was her long, wild, scarlet hair. He spotted Lifty and Shifty next in the pile of mangled corpses, and saw that both twin's bodies were missing several limbs. Petunia appeared to have been strangled with that pine tree necklace she always wore, and Handy was a few feet in front of her, with his stomach ripped open, Splendid guessed that Handy had tried to protect Petunia. Nutty, the candy-addict's throat torn out, Toothy, his skull cracked open…Splendid choked back a sob; Toothy was one of his best friends. He saw several more of his friends, each death more horrific than the last, and too morbid to describe. Hot tears stung his eyes, but he held them back, he wouldn't cry, he was the hero! He had to stay strong, for his friends.

He noticed movement in the corner of his left eye and whirled around, fists raised in a fighting stance to see Flippy, soaked in blood. The green-haired ex-veteran was pulling his bowie knife out of Cuddle's chest, a maniacal grin on his face as he wiped the blood off the knife on his already stained uniform. Meanwhile, Splendid was fighting his instinct to run, he wouldn't! He couldn't! He was the hero! He had to avenge his friends! Splendid stepped forward with new-found confidence, chin raised, as he approached the older man. Flippy looked up, hearing the footsteps, echoing loudly in the dead-silence, giving Splendid time to study the insane ex-veteran. His normally vibrant green eyes were a shade of dull gold and were just small pinpricks, a streak of blood was smeared across his cheek and a sadistic grin on his face, revealing slightly sharpened teeth.

Splendid swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry and bit his lower lip as Flippy rose to his feet and headed towards him…the hero felt…weaker than usual, like something was draining his power. Then he saw it, the tell-tale green glow giving it away, Flippy had somehow obtained a shard of kyrptonut, Splendid's only weakness, and embedded in the knife's handle. Splendid wobbled unsteadily, feeling weak as the older man stood in front of him. "Well if it isn't the little hero himself…" Flippy crooned, his voice a low growl, tilting Splendid's head up roughly and forcing the bluette to look him in the eyes. Flippy smirked at the defiant look in the weakened hero's light-blue eyes; he would enjoy breaking him, for it was no fun when they were_ completely_ submissive. He leaned in close to the younger man and whispered in his ear, "Do you know what they did to Prisoners of War during the W.A.R?" the hero simply glared at him in response, refusing to show any kind of fear.

Flippy grinned wickedly at him, "they would give them two choices…either to die," he paused, listening to the rapid beating of his victims' heart. "Or…they would torture them…and then let them go…" he finished, blowing on Splendid's ear lightly, enjoying the shiver that racked the frame of the hero in front of him. "So….which do you choose..?" Flippy asked, drawing his bowie knife out and dragging the blade lightly across Splendid's cheek, creating a shallow cut.

Splendid shivered at the feeling of the cool metal on his skin, biting his lip to stop himself from crying out at the stinging sensation as the blade bit gently into his flesh. The blue-haired hero wasn't used to feeling pain, thus the feeling was magnified. What Flippy did next however, completely threw Splendid off of the whole I-shall-remain-silent-not-responding-to-anything-you-say-or-do act. "H-Holy Fuck! Dude! W-WHAT THE HELL?" Splendid cried, squirming to get away from the insane man, using what little strength he had left to try to push him away with no avail. Flippy was licking his cheek in smooth, rhythmic strokes, lapping up the blood that was flowing from the wound, all the while, smirking lazily at the others actions. Splendid immediately felt the blood rush to his cheeks at the killer's ministrations, which caused blood to flow faster out of the wound. God Damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen! He was supposed to be _strong_ and yet, here he was, letting the person who fucking _murdered_ his friends semi-molest him. To be honest though, it wasn't really _his_ fault that Flippy had somehow come across his one weakness….he _hated _feeling weak and useless… He was snapped out of his thoughts and feelings of self-loathing by Flippy pulling away. The ex-veteran licking his lips, cleaning off whatever blood lingered, with that infuriating smirk still taunting him. "…absolutely divine…" Splendid thought he heard his attacker mutter, but he could have imagined it…either way, thank _God_ that was over.

Splendid's relief was short lived however; as Flippy grabbed the still stunned boy by the shoulders and crushed their lips together in a fierce kiss that the greenette dominated from start to finish. Now that your all caught up, back to current events. The blue-haired hero was pushed up against a wall being kissed against his will….but he had to admit, Flippy was a _damn_ good kisser. Splendid glared at the older male, the glare only intensified as he felt the killer smirk against his lips. _"Bastard…" _he thought bitterly, tempted to bite down as hard as he could, just to wipe the smirk of his face, but that would probably result in his death, so he grudgingly restrained himself.

Splendid's eyes widened as he felt a tongue sweep across his kiss-swollen lips, asking, no, _demanding_ entrance. The bluette's eyes narrowed, "_Fuck no…" _He thought venomously, clenching his teeth together, not allowing Flippy to go any further. He felt almost smug as the older man frowned, but that feeling quickly disappeared as the ex-veteran bit down once more on Splendid's already bruised lip, causing the smaller boy to cry out in pain and Flippy used the momentary weakness to slip his tongue into the bluette's mouth, muffling the whimpers that Splendid let out. In all honestly, Flippy found the others determination not to give in rather cute, if not irritating.

Deciding to push a little further, Flippy broke the kiss and started trailing light kisses down the other boy's neck, smirking at the soft, almost inaudible whines coming from the blue-haired hero. The green-haired man then bit down harshly on soft spot between the hero's neck and shoulder, tearing a cry from the bluette's throat. The ex-veteran proceeded to suck lightly on the bruised skin, soothing the pain slightly, ignoring the quiet murmurs of "No…stop…n-no!" and light pushes on his chest, Splendid was obviously trying to break free, not that he could of course. He reached for the zipper of the still-weak hero's track-jacket, almost giggling at the other boy's frantic struggling and slowly starting to pull it down drawing out the moment, when the sound of police sirens reached his ears, far away, but moving closer. "Damn it…" he hissed before turning back to the dazed Splendid and grinning maniacally at him. "Cops are gonna be here soon, gotta run!" he told the hero, stooping down and giving him one last deep kiss before retrieving his bowie knife and dashing into the night.

Splendid was in shock. What the hell just happened? From what the hero gathered, he had been kissed against his will by a murderer who had run away…he brought two fingers up to his bruised lips and shuddered. Feeling his strength starting to return to him, he smirked slightly, feeling hatred course through his body. Flippy had _no _idea what was coming to him, _no one _messed with his friends...or him for that matter. Shaking off that thought he stood, still a little unsteady and ran as the sound of piercing sirens and flashing blue and red lights filled the lot.

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><p>Yey~ Haaa~ Were you expecting a lemon? XDD Anyway, expect more FlippyxSplendid drabbles soon x3<p>

ALSO, not all of the drabbles will be this...urm...suggestive...?

Reviews aren't necessary, but appreciated~


	2. Four Kisses

Sorry for the wait! It took a little longer than i expected to finish this one Dx

Warning(s): Extreme amouts of fluff, Yaoi/BL, kissing and Humanized HTF

Rating: K+

Pairing(s): FlippyxSplendid, with a bit of SplendidxFlippy

Also, none of these oneshots will be related to one another unless I directly state that it is a sequel/prequel/it takes place in the same AU XD

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><p>Four Kisses<p>

_Splendid had a habit .A very annoying habit in Flippy's opinion, one that irked him to no end. You see, The blue-haired hero had formed a habit of showing up at random points during his boyfriend's day and kissing him, only to dash or sometimes fly off while laughing, not only was this dangerous, as the surprise could cause the greenette to "flip out", it made him feel ridiculously happy which felt…well, odd to say the least._

**The first incident**: Splendid flew over the city, enjoying the warm, spring air and the clear skies. The city was relatively peaceful today, which was a huge bonus.

Grinning mischievously, he began the search for the ex-veteran. He flew lower to the ground now, waving at Giggles and Cuddles as he passed them, and dodging a few trucks as they zoomed past him. Humming a tune, he resumed his search, scanning through the crowds of people, looking for the mop of light-green hair and the trademark camouflage jacket that set Flippy apart from the rest of Happyville's citizens.

After a good ten minutes or so of looking, he spotted his boyfriend lounging on a street corner, talking to Flaky, Lifty and Shifty. Swooping down so he was a few inches above them, he flipped up-side down to face Flippy, giggling at the look of shock on the ex-veteran's face. He wiggled his fingers at the other in greeting before leaning forward to give him a quick kiss.

Splendid pulled away, taking in the look of surprise and the dark flush that was slowly spreading across his boyfriends face. It was absolutely adorable. The blue-haired hero giggled once more and waved to the stunned Flaky and the snickering twins, before flying away with a furious Flippy chasing after him. "Oh what a lovely day this is~" Splendid thought, a grin spreading across his face.

**o-o-o-o-o**

**The second incident:** Flippy had just sat down for lunch at his favorite restaurant, _Starlight café, _which was run by Lammy, a rather shy, but sweet girl, who was good friends with Flaky, and "Mr. Pickles" whom no one had ever actually met, but Lammy always spoke very highly of him.

His "Crepe a la mode"had just arrived moments before and the ex-veteran began to eat with vigor. As the army had still left its mark, he could never quite shake off the feeling that each meal could very well be his last.

Flippy was half-way through his crepe, when he heard the door to the small café open. Looking up, curious, he was mildly surprised to see none other than Splendid, his slightly idiotic boyfriend. He felt a twinge of annoyance as he remembered their kiss earlier that day, Flaky had been a stuttering, blushing mess (Damn Petunia and Giggles for introducing her to yaoi!) and he had to endure Lifty and Shifty's constant teasing.

That feeling disappeared when he gave a small wave to the bluette who immediately made his way over to Flippy's table, while grinning that stupid grin of his. "Hi~" the blue-haired man said cheerily, sitting down in the chair opposite to Flippy, politely declining the menu offered to him by Lammy. Flippy nodded at him in response, his mouth still full.

Noticing the mischievous glint in the hero's eyes, Flippy quickly became suspicious as the other man leaned forward, still grinning. The greenette leaned back slightly, putting a little distance between himself and Splendid. "….what?" Flippy questioned, vibrant-green eyes narrowing in suspicion. The blue-haired hero simply grinned in response and giggled at the others obvious discomfort. Flippy scowled, irritation returning under the intense stare of his boyfriend. He huffed in annoyance, returning to eating his crepe, trying to ignore Splendid's stare. After a few long minutes, he sighed and looked up, meeting Splendid's sky-blue eyes "Is there something on my face..?" he asked the amused Splendid, whose grin now greatly resembled the Cheshire cat's.

Flippy's eyes widened in shock as Splendid grabbed his shoulders and leaned forward, kissing him lightly on the cheek, effectively removing the spot of cream from the crepe that had lingered there. Splendid giggled again and quickly stood up. The bluette then dashed out the door in a rush, not wanting to face Flippy's wrath.

The hero glanced behind him to see a furious and mortified Flippy chasing after him for the second that day, waving his bowie knife in the air threateningly. Splendid gave maniacal grin, let the chase begin!

**o-o-o-o-o**

**The third and fourth incident**: Splendid grinned victoriously; he had just won his daily battle against his nemesis/friendly rival, Splendont. The red-themed hero was lying on the pavement, stunned by his lose. Splendid waved at the dazed hero and flew off, looking for his boyfriend once more.

It was around six o' clock now, and the sky was a rich orange, with tendrils of bluish-purple still streaked the sky, blending together to form a magnificent view, one that Splendid stopped to admire. He shook his head, snapping out of his trance and resumed his search. It took him longer this time around to find him, as many of the citizens of Happyville were rushing home to get back to their loved ones.

He finally found Flippy lounging on a bench in the local park, smoking his daily cigarette. It was a habit that the green-haired man had picked up during Vietnam. A habit that Splendid disapproved of, but what could he do about it?

He landed lightly on the ground behind the bench, grinning as he snuck up on the unsuspecting Flippy. Splendid waited for a minute, and then pounced, covering the ex-veterans eyes with his hands. He felt Flippy jerk in surprise, dropping the half-finished cigarette and became rigid, before beginning to tremble, while growling. Having anticipated this, he leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to the back of the flipped-out man's neck, calming the enraged Flippy down almost immediately.

"_Don't do_ _that_" Flippy hissed, removing Splendid's hands from his eyes and twisted around to glare at the younger man, who grinned apologetically at the other. "Sorry…" Splendid mumbled, wrapping his arms around Flippy, causing the ex-veteran to stiffen momentarily, but relaxed just as quickly.

Flippy sighed and hesitantly returned the hug, not quite used to signs of affection yet. They stayed like this for a while, with Splendid nuzzling his face into the older man's neck. Flippy wasn't sure if Splendid was asleep or not. As it turned out, the blue-haired hero had indeed fallen asleep.

Smiling softly, he gently shook the others shoulder, causing Splendid to jerk awake with a surprised yelp. "Wha-What…?" The hero questioned blearily, sleep still heavy in his mind. Flippy chucked slightly at the dazed hero, he had always found a just-woken up Splendid to be kind of adorable, not that he'd ever let the blue-haired hero know that of course! He tilted Splendid's head up gently and pressed a small kiss to the hero's forehead, causing a small blushed to appear on the bluette's cheeks. "C'mon, let's go home." Flippy stated, grabbing Splendid's smaller hand in his own and leading the still half-asleep boy in the direction to the flat they shared.

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><p>Yay~ second drabble is doone! Umm... the next one should be up around next week...probably XD:<p>

Reviews are greatly appreciated! ^w^


	3. Nightmare

Happy Halloween! :D Here's some FlippyxSplendid x3 Also, there might be a Halloween themed oneshot uploaded either today or tommorow, depending on if I finish it today or not XD;

Pairings: FlippyxSplendid and Implied LumpyxRussel (If you wanna look at it that way)

Warning(s)  
>YaoiBL, gore and fluff

Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends D:

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><p>Nightmare<p>

Flippy grinned, wrenching the knife out of Lumpy's throat, where it had been lodged before, giggling sadistically at the streams of blood that began to flow out of the now open wound, soaking his already bloodied uniform. Lumpy had been particularly difficult to kill, Flippy ended up having to kill Russel first, in order to stun the enraged man. He threw the now lifeless corpse of Lumpy into the pile of bodies. The insane man stepped back to view his handiwork, and smirked, revealing sharp teeth.

There was a small pile of corpses heaped by the playground in the small family park, all of them his so-called "friends" Giggles, Cuddles, Lumpy, Russel, Toothy, Nutty, Sniffles, Handy, Petunia, Lammy, they were all there, in various states of dismemberment. Hah, he didn't need anyone… much less friends. But there was one person missing from the pile of mutilated bodies.

He grinned again, knowing that the hero would soon turn up. Almost as if on cue, Flippy noticed a line of blue streaking across the sky, heading towards the small park. His grin only widened, as he was hit full-force by a worried and furious Splendid. The force of the impact knocked both of them over on to the blood-soaked grass. Splendid, thinking fast, took advantage of Flippy's momentary weakness to pin him down. Flippy growled in irritation and then smirked, tightening his grip on the knife he had clutched in his hand. The ex-veteran then rolled over, switching the positions and earning a surprised "oof" from the blue-haired hero.

Flippy grinned once more, knowing that the Splendid was now powerless, or at least extremely reluctant to hurt the flipped-out man on the account of "loving" him. He laughed manically, yellow eyes glinting in the darkness of the night, he leaned down close to Splendid's ear and whispered "Love is _useless_…" and swung the blade down, piercing the blue-haired hero's heart.

0-0-0-0

Flippy bolted upright, heart pounding and breath coming in short gasps, his black shirt clinging to his thin frame, damp with sweat. He looked around the semi-dark bedroom he shared with Splendid, taking in the familiar surroundings and felt relief flood through him. It was only a dream. There was no pile of bodies, and more importantly, Splendid was still alive and lying beside him.

The greenette looked over at the still-sleeping man beside him. The blue haired hero was unceremoniously sprawled out, taking up half the bed, if not more. His navy hair was in a state of disarray, with his red sleep-shirt (which was one of Flippy's) rumpled from sleep. For reasons unknown to Flippy, Splendid insisted that he sleep with his mask on, and he rarely ever took it off. He could clearly see the hero's chest rise and fall with every breath the bluette took. Flippy let out a breath he did know he had been holding. He allowed himself a small smile as the hero murmured something unintelligible, and shifted closer to Flippy.

The ex-veteran chewed his bottom lip, weighing his options of whether or not Splendid would wake up if he got up to go get a glass of water. You see, Splendid was an _extremely _heavy sleeper most of the time, except when Flippy got out of bed, that would cause Splendid to wake up and cling to him, asking him why and where he had to go, and complaining how he should come back to bed and not do whatever he was going to do before. It was adorable and mildly annoying at the same time, especially if he had to go to the bathroom. Eventually, he decided to wing it, after all he was thirsty. He gingerly lifted himself into a sitting position, glancing furtively at the sleeping hero beside him, who mumbled and then curled himself into a ball. Flippy sighed in relief, and swung his legs over the side of the bed, only for an arm to shoot out and lock itself around his waist, and the owner of the said arm to bury his face into Flippy's lower back.

"Wh-where 'you goin'….?" Splendid murmured, voice still slurred with sleep and clinging tighter to the older man in an attempt to stop him from leaving. Flippy sighed, his drink could wait. "I was going to go get some water." "Nooo….stay here….." Splendid whined in protest, his grip on his partner tightening. "Fine…" Flippy answered, laying back down and chuckling softly when Splendid immediately cuddled into his side, throwing an arm over Flippy's waist. "…Yay…" The bluette mumbled before adding as an afterthought "….why were you up anyway?" Flippy stiffened and bit his lip; he _hated_ telling people about his dreams, mostly because they all involved him going insane and killing all the people he cared about and or loved….but on the other hand, he also hated lying, especially to Spendid.

After some internal debate, Flippy let out a long sigh and turned to face Splendid. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and buried his face into the hero's neck. "…I…I had a dream…" He mumbled into Splendid's neck, tightening his grip around the younger man and pulling him closer. Hoping that Splendid would be able to read the atmosphere for once in his life and be able tell that he didn't want to elaborate any further, as he didn't want to remember that dream anytime soon it was _way _to realistic for his liking. To his immense relief, the blue-haired hero seemed to pick up on that fact and simply returned the hug, and resting his chin atop the others head.

Splendid yawned, his eyes starting to burn from the lack of sleep. A quick glance at the alarm clock on the told the hero that it was now 4:03 a.m. Splendid blinked rapidly, lessening the burn slightly, he had to stay awake! At least until Flippy falls asleep. He yawned again, resisting the urge to rub his eyes, as that would probably jar the half-asleep Flippy awake. Instead, he listened to the green-haired man's breathing slowly become slower and deeper as the ex-veteran slipped into unconsciousness once more. Splendid smiled softly and pressed an affectionate kiss to the sleeping man's forehead, causing the other to stir slightly, but he just mumbled something that Splendid was too tired to even try to decipher and pressed himself closer to Splendid. The blue-haired hero yawned again and finally let himself fall asleep.

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><p>Yay Fluff =w=<p>

I don't like how this one ended as much...I might go back sometime and edit it XD;

Reviews aren't necessary, I'll still keep writing, but they're always appreciated! w


	4. Farewell

Haha wow I'm updating another old story of mine? Damn right I am. This one kind of got away from me though. Eh.

Warning(s): Character Death (kind of), Yaoi/BL, kissing and Humanized HTF

Rating: T

Pairing(s): Splendid/Flippy

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><p><strong>Farewell<strong>

The day had started out innocent enough, clear, blue skies with just a slight summer breeze to keep it from getting too hot, if only it told the tragedy that was about to occur.

Splendid grinned and latched on to his boyfriend's arm, lacing their fingers together. His grin only widening at the amused smile he received in return. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, so the duo had decided to go for a walk around downtown, to kill time and just enjoy being around each other.

Flippy frowned slightly; his soldier's sense had been acting up all day. There had been this deep sense of foreboding since the moment he woke up today….like something was going to happen today, something important... He shook his head and turned his attention to the blue-haired hero beside him.

Flippy allowed himself a small smile at Splendid's antics, his partner was practically bursting with excitement and barely contained glee. He was just so _damn_ adorable and the simplest display of affection made him grin like the idiot he was. It was a rather endearing trait, or at least Flippy thought it was. The veteran gave the hand in his own a brief squeeze, prompting another mile-wide grin from the hero beside him.

Flippy nodded absent-mindedly, only half listening to Splendid's enthusiastic babbling about what he should cook them for dinner when he heard it. The earsplitting crash of metal hitting metal, followed by a squeal of brakes and the sound of something flying through the air, a sound he knew all too well from the numerous air-raids he had participated in during the war.

The veteran whirled around on the spot, dragging a surprised Splendid with him to see a rather large truck that seemed to have been launched into the air, most likely by that bus that was now swerving down the road, spinning out of control. He instinctively drew Splendid close to him, as if his body could protect the stunned male as the truck came crashing closer and closer with each passing second.

For Flippy, it was if his body had been thrown into overdrive, he became hyper aware of everything around him, the screams of the terrified citizens, of the bus crashing through a wall of a nearby building across the street, and of the trembling boy in his arms, still locked in his protective embrace.

It also became apparent to him that only one of them could come out alive from this ordeal and it better be the _idiot_ of a hero that he had become so fond of… oh scratch that, he fuckin' _loved_ the damn kid, too bad it took them about to be hit by a car for him to realize just how deep his feelings went for the other boy.

Thinking fast, he crushed Splendid to his chest in a fierce hug before whispering "I'm sorry." and using all of his strength, pushed Splendid away from him. He hoped to get the blue-haired hero far enough to dodge the airborne truck or at least avoid the worst of the damage you can take by being hit by several hundred pounds of metal.

The last thing the veteran heard was a strangled cry of despair and then utter darkness.

Pain was the first that Splendid awoke to, a throbbing, burning pain that was coursing through out his body, except for his left arm and right leg…they felt numb, almost worryingly so.

"Wha-what the hell happened?" Was the hero's first thought, and then it hit him. Sky-blue eyes widened with panic as he remembered everything that happened in the past few…minutes? Hours? Days even? He didn't know how long he had spent unconscious. The memories came rushing back to him, the bus spinning out of control, the truck and Flippy. Oh god Flippy.

A new kind of panicked desperation filled him as he franticly looked around the semi-destroyed street for any sign the veteran amongst the smoking wreckage and debris, panicked screams still reverberating in his ears as citizens tried to escape their burning prisons.

After a few hysterical minutes, he caught sight of the man, lying face down on the slightly charred pavement, completely still and unmoving…. almost as if the green-haired man was dea—"Nononono!" He murmured, breaking off that train of thought, Flippy couldn't be dead, he simply _couldn't. _

Staggering to his feet, Splendid almost fell back down once more due to the jolts of pain shooting through him at the effort of moving. Splendid stumbled over to where he lay, collapsing to his knees beside the veteran.

Trembling, he placed a hand the others back and gently shook the veteran, panic increasing ten-fold when there was no response. "…F-Flippy…?" Another shake. Tears were filling up his eyes now, blurring his vision and threating to spill over. "Goddamn it Flippy, wake up…this isn't funny…." Another shake, a little harder this time though. His breath hitched and the hero's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, a pool of scarlet liquid was slowly spreading out from around the place where Flippy lay.

Flippy was dead.

_Flippy was dead._

That was what pushed Splendid to breaking point, brought his whole world crashing down upon him.

Tears were flowing freely now, and the hero's whole body was shaking with barely contained sobs, this wasn't supposed to happen! He was supposed to be the hero! He should have done his job and protected the one he loved! God he so was _fucking_ useless….

The exhaustion and pain were taking its toll on the hero however, and for the second time that day, he slipped into unconsciousness, collapsing over Flippy's body, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

The next time Splendid awoke, they were trying to separate him from Flippy, needless to say he flipped the fuck out and put up one hell of a fight. It didn't matter that one of his arms felt dead, he got in a few punches and several well-placed kicks before the rescue team managed to knock him out in order to get him into the ambulance.

The next few weeks passed by in a blur for the hero, in a whirl-wind of doctors, pills and physical therapy, and before he knew it, it was time for Flippy's funeral. He bit his lip as he felt the all-too familiar tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Splendid shook his head fiercely, brushing them away with his good hand, his left one had been broken in several places and the nerves had been slightly damaged, it had been a similar case with his right leg.

Splendid sighed and with some difficulty, managed to put on the simple black suit that was provided for him by Flaky, his best friend and younger sister figure. Now that he thought back on it, she had been the one to introduce him to Flippy, without her, they never would have met. He supposed he'd have to thank her for that sometime.

A light knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts and Splendid quickly put on a happy face, he didn't want to cause his friends to worry any more about him than they had to.

"Come in!" he called, voice dripping with false cheeriness. The door opened slowly and carefully to reveal a nervous and rather sad looking Flaky. The younger girl was dressed in a simple black dress; her usually messy, scarlet hair was tied up into a high-ponytail, which Splendid figured that it was an attempt to tame it.

Flaky studied her best friend of several years closely, taking note of the dark circles under his eyes and the painfully fake grin plastered across his face as he gave up trying to tie his tie one-handed. She sighed softly and crossed the room to where Splendid sat, glaring at his now knotted tie.

The redhead knelt down so she was at eye-level to the hero and with nimble-fingers, swiftly un-did the knot and did the tie correctly. Flaky laid a gentle hand on the bluette's shoulder and gave him a weak smile. She sighed again as Splendid avoided her searching gaze, "Y-you don't have to pretend for us you know…t-this…is hard for all of us as well" She said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes as she watched her friend's mask slowly crumble, revealing the broken hero beneath.

Splendid let out a shuddering gasp as the pent up feelings began to burst forth. Sadness, guilt, frustration, grief, self-loathing and pain swirled around in his mind. It was simply too much, he broke down completely, sobs wrenching themselves from the bluette's throat.

Flaky said nothing to the distraught hero and offered comfort in the only way she knew how. Feeling a few tears of her own start to run down her cheeks, she pulled Splendid into a tight hug, not caring when Splendid's tears started to soak through the sleeve of her dress.

The red-head gave a slightly bitter-sweet smile; she could remember doing the exact same thing for the hero when Splendid had first realized his feelings for the veteran. She recalled Splendid bursting into her dorm room at an ungodly time of night, wide-eyed, his face red as his twin brother Splendont's hair and close to tears, babbling about how Flippy kissed him and how he didn't know what the hell to do.

After a long time, when Splendid's broken sobs, had faded to soft hiccups, the hero finally opened his mouth to speak, or at least he tried. Several times in fact, each time he opened his mouth, no sound came out.

After a few attempts he rasped out "….I-It was my fault you know…." And when Flaky said nothing, he continued, voice hoarse from lack of use. "I…I should have…I…I probably could have done something…but… I-I couldn't move…It was like my body wouldn't respond to me…and then Flippy was there, hugging me and…and…then…at the very last second…h-he pushed me away…" He trailed off, overcome once more by grief. Splendid buried his face into Flaky's shoulder, not wanting to face her.

Flaky sighed, and gently pried the hero off of her, holding Splendid at arm's length. "…It wasn't your fault, Splendid." She said sharply, a bit surprised with the confident tone her voice carried. By the looks of it, Splendid was surprised too, staring at her, mouth slightly open in shock. If one of her closet friends wasn't having a breakdown, she probably would have giggled at his expression.

She took a deep, steadying breath and continued, "You and I both know just how stubborn Flippy was, If set his mind to it, there was no swaying him! And by the looks of it, he was hell-bent on saving your life!" Flaky finished, breathing heavily.

Flaky squeaked and felt heat rush to her face at her outburst as Splendid blinked owlishly at her. "I-I-I'm sorry!" she stuttered out, back her usual, nervous self. "U-um…. We…uh….we should probably get going…..we don't want to be late…." She stammered and squeaked in surprise when she felt arms lock around her in a tight embrace. "S-Splendid…?" she questioned, voice wavering slightly.

"…Thank you…" Splendid said, his voice slightly muffled due to his face pressed into his friend's neck. "Thank you for everything… I…I really don't deserve such a good friend…" he finished, pulling away and giving Flaky a weak smile.

She was right. He could do this. It hurt like hell, and he wasn't going to bounce back from this, there was simply no way he could. However, he could sure as hell try to get better. For both his and Flaky's sake. Linking an arm with the redhead's for support, they hobbled out to the black car awaiting them and began the quiet drive to the cemetery.

He tried to be attentive to Flaky talking to him, he really did but his mind kept wandering and slowly tuning her out as he chased the rabbit far, far down its hole into dreamland. Closing his eyes, he slumped against the cool glass of the car window, faintly hearing the soft rhythmic tapping of rain coming down gently, as if weeping.

When he opened his eyes again what he saw made him tense with apprehension and maybe a bit of fear, balling his hands into fists he took in his surroundings. It was a monochromatic world with maybe the barest hints of blue. A somber, cloudless sky loomed above him, stretching for what seemed to be eternity. This was magnified by what appeared to be either a mirror or a lake so clear it shone like crystal and reflected the sky. He didn't particularly care to check exactly what the stuff was made of, after all, what if it was dangerous? He stood, tense and rigid on a seemingly endless path made of marbled grey and white with the barest hint of black swirled through the cold stone.

He let out a heavy sigh, seeing no other option, he began the trek down the path in front of him. That was when he noticed, his blue eyes widening in shock and surprise. Skidding to a halt, he hesitantly raised his right leg and it worked. It didn't feel heavy or unnatural or even strained. Allowing himself a small grin, he threw a mock punch with his left arm, and to his delight, it was just as easy as. As before-

Oh. Right.

His momentary burst of glee was dampened as the memory of the terrible accident flashed through his mind. Steeling his wavering resolve, he pushed forward, one foot in front of the other, he reminded himself. He'd get to the end of the path.

He didn't know how long it took before he saw a change in scenery, but finally, he did. He first caught sight of the shape of a vague figure in the distance, nothing more than a faint black blot surrounded by a rectangular white shape. His curiosity peaked, and he continued forward with a new kind of determination filling him.

He drew nearer and nearer to the figure, his breath catching in the back of his throat in a choked wheeze when he caught sight of the all too familiar uniform, crisp and neat as ever, completely absent of the dark, rusty red stains that had marred it last time he had seen it. Standing there, a rather bored expression on his face, a lit cigarette was dangling from between his fingers, the grey smoke curling upwards in graceful tendrils, was Flippy.

Splendid's mouth went slack in disbelief, too stunned to manage words, he stood there, frozen in place, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes he finally found his voice as he shouted a desperate cry of "_Flippy!_" vaguely noticing that his shout echoed around the strange place. He began to run as Flippy turned to look at him, bored expression slowly turning to one of slight amusement, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards around the cigarette into the familiar, crooked grin the hero was so fond of.

Now, it seemed like every second was drawn out, stringing slowly as every minute ticked by as he sprinted to reach his lover, it didn't take him long to hit him at full speed, causing a surprised huff of air to escape from Flippy as he was knocked back slightly from the force of the impact, Splendid let out a breathless laugh mixed with a choked sob as strong arms encircled him and he inhaled the familiar smell of tobacco and vanilla that clung to the veteran almost always.

For a minute, they simply stood there in each other's arms, the cigarette fallen to the stone road, smoldering and forgotten by the veteran and the hero, both of whom were too wrapped up in each other, too relieved and too full of barely contained joy.

Splendid felt warm, gun calloused hands on his face, tilting his chin upward to meet the still startlingly vibrant green eyes of Flippy, the veteran leaving down to brush his lips against the hero's in a chaste kiss. For the first time in a long while, Splendid's blue eyes lit up with their usual joy, a wide grin on his face as Flippy drew back to carefully pull his unneeded glasses off and to pull his bright red hero mask out of the front pocket of his uniform, slipping it, with the upmost care back onto Splendid's face. The hero had removed it when he had woke up in the hospital, deciding that he would only wear it once more when he was worthy. When he could atone for what he'd done. And with that, the tears began to flow freely, soaking the soft fabric of his mask as he clutched desperately at the stiff uniform cloth of veteran's uniform as Flippy held him, still and solid, unwavering.

"Shhh." He heard him croon into his ear, rough hands carding through his messy navy locks in a comforting gesture. "Calm down, Splendid. Calm down. You'll be fine. You'll be fine." He murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head. Splendid trembled at the touch, willing for the tears to stop, they eventually did and he swallowed the lump in his throat, managing a watery grin up at the veteran.

Flippy kissed his cheek, once. Twice and a third time, and held him close once more. "Splendid." His voice was rough and raspy, as it got when he was trying to hold himself back, and for a moment, just a split second, everything flickered and the Flippy with the shard of metal sticking out of his chest appeared, eyes sad, desperate and tinged with a golden hue, blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth as he struggled for breath.

And it was gone and his Flippy stood before him, hand over his mouth to muffle the shriek that Splendid could feel bubbling up. "Splendid I don't have much time. They let me come say goodbye and then I'm out of this timeline until the next one." He explained, words coming out in a rush "It won't. It won't make sense until you die but. You need to keep living, okay? Keep living for me. For me and Flaky because she needs you too she can't lose you too." His words took on a panicked edge as he grabbed Splendid's face with both hands and leaned down to kiss him for the last time in this life, feeling a few tears of his own begin to fall, he pulled back, straightening the military cap he wore and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his uniform.

Splendid's eyes were wide with shock and a cloud of sadness overtook the bright blue as he nodded, sniffling softly as he scrubbed at his eyes, feeling them burn from crying. "….Alright. Okay. I'll. I will. I can do it. I can do it for you and Flaky. I'm…Sorry. For letting you die. For being useless." At this the veteran stiffened, his grin fading slightly as he stroked the hero's cheek fondly "If you don't stop blaming yourself, I'm going to kick your ass in the next timeline, don't be such an idiot, Splendid. I died close to impact, and I'd do it for you again and again because." The green haired man paused, seeming to hesitate before saying his final words. "I love you." Splendid's eyes widened, letting his words sink in, he bit his lower lip to stop it from trembling as he felt tears well up once more. Taking in a deep, steadying breath, he opened his mouth to reply, to let Flippy know that he felt the exact same way when he felt a harsh, stinging pain slam across his face.

The hero awoke with a shout, automatically slinging his good arm out to clock whoever had just slapped him across the face, only for his foggy vision to focus enough to make out bright red hair and a blue mask. _Splendont_. He followed through with the punch. Spendont stumbling back with the force of it, clutching his nose and giving him an almost satisfied grin. "I knew that would wake you up, kiddo!" He exclaimed, looking Splendid over, his red eyes tinged with concern and if Splendid wasn't mistaken, thinly veiled worry coating his voice.

His brother continued on, brushing a few strands of messy red hair out of his face. "Flakys freaking the fuck out, bro. hyperventilating, crying, the whole works. She couldn't get you to wake up. Said you were in some sort of trance." He remarked, leaning close, close, _too close _to Splendid's face and the blue haired man frowned up at him, pushing Splendont away and himself up and out of the car, leaning on the sturdy metal frame for support.

He shook his head, and winced at the dull throb of pain that laced through it at the movement, ow. Splendid's head was aching, starting from his temples and spreading down to the base of his skull. He let out a soft whine and focused on the figure of his older brother. "I'm fine. Wheres Flaky. Let me see her please. I wanna go- go to the grave. Did I miss the ceremony?" he asked, words coming out in a rush. He wanted to get this over with. He wanted to see his best friend and get a chance to say goodbye, even if he was almost positive that he would be coming back to the grave at a later point.

His eyes blue eyes widened as his brother drew him in for a hug, stiffening up before relaxing into the redhead's arms. This was strange, he couldn't remember the last time they'd displayed affection for each other that wasn't in the form of friendly fights or Splendont ruffling his hair (which was mostly to piss Splendid off)

Splendont muttering an "I'm sorry." Into his ear is what snapped him out of his thoughts, he tuned into what the red themed hero had to say, it wasn't often Splendid heard those words come out of his mouth. Splendont continued on, "You missed it, I tried to postpone it for you but they were on a schedule and the rain was turning the ground to mush so they had to get on with it. Flaky's waiting for you though, Lammys with her." His voice cracking halfway through his explanation. Splendid slumped onto him, letting out a quiet sniffle as he swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "Okay. Okay I - when can I go, then. To visit him." He asked, a hint of desperation in his voice as he fisted his hands into the dark fabric of his brother's suit.

Splendont muttering an "I'm sorry." Into his ear is what snapped him out of his thoughts, he tuned into what the red themed hero had to say, it wasn't often Splendid heard those words come out of his mouth. Splendont continued on, "You missed it, I tried to postpone it for you but they were on a schedule and the rain was turning the ground to mush so they had to get on with it. Flaky's waiting for you though, Lammys with her." His voice cracking halfway through his explanation. Splendid slumped onto him, letting out a quiet sniffle as he swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "Okay. Okay I¬ when can I go, then. To visit him." He asked, a hint of desperation in his voice as he fisted his hands into the dark fabric of his brother's suit.

"You'll be able to soon, Splendid." he soothed, rocking back and forth on his heels as he waited for his younger brother to stop trembling, god this was so fucked up. None of this should have happened. The bus shouldn't have crashed. Flippy shouldn't have fucking died and Splendid shouldn't be a trembling wreck in his arms. Flaky had been equally inconsolable when she had heard the news, and her panic only magnified when Splendid was hospitalized, and now this? He worried that she was going to have a heart attack at thirty the way her stress levels were skyrocketing as of late.

The redhead let out a deep sigh, scritching up and down Splendid's back as he did when they were children, it always seemed to calm the boy down and some occasions, lull him to sleep. Sleep wasn't his objective this time, he just had to get him to calm the hell down from whatever had happened to him when he was stuck in that trance. He shuddered at the memory of his younger brother, too crisp, too neat in his black suit and stark white button-down shirt, staring into nothingness, his blue eyes wide, blank, and unseeing. He thought he was dead at first, when he had found Flaky crying over Splendid's limp body, and rushed to check his pulse without a seconds hesitation.

Because, although he and Flippy hadn't been all that close, he felt pain at his death, he couldn't even imagine how his brother felt. He was also indebted to the veteran now, for saving Splendid's life instead of choosing to save his own. He turned his red eyed gaze up towards the cloudy sky, feeling the rain hit his face and slide down as his brother's trembling came to a stop. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the dogtags he'd requested be retrieved from Flippy. The redhead figured that his little brother might want them. Pulling away from the embrace he bent over slightly to fasten the chain around Splendid's neck. "Here. I saved them for you. Thought you might like to have them." he murmured, ruffling the boy's hair fondly at the sight of his stunned expression.

"Now chin up, kiddo. Not all farewells are forever."

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><p>Yup. Felt like writing some character death. Soooo I did. Lemme know how this one went I guess? Drop a review if you so wish. Those things motivate me like crazy. I have some ideas for the next one-shot. Its probably gonna be some sort of Zombie AU<p> 


	5. Regarding zombies

Announcement!

Okay guys, sorry for this not being an actual chapter.

But you know that Zombie au I mentioned in the last chapter? Well, it kind of ran away from me. I could either split into a two-part chapter, or continue it on as a separate story and go into further detail. Drop me a review or pm me if you'd read it, I guess. It's up to you guys.

Here have a bit of the story,

A wild grin spread across the green haired man's face as he slammed his combat boot down on the cracked skull, stomping until he could see the diseased, grey and pink mess that was its brain, grinding his heel into it. Stopping only when its feeble motions stuttered to a halt, he let out a whooshing breath, removing his hat to run a mostly clean hand through his hair, getting the fallen strands out of his eyes and placing the hat back to its rightful place. Cracking his knuckles, he met the wide, blue eyes of Splendid with his own and let out a faint laugh, "Does this make us even then, kiddo?" he asked, kicking the now lifeless corpse to the side, clearing a path for Splendid to cross to the freezer section.


	6. Silences (Part of 1?)

**Heyyy, guess who updated? Me, I am the answer.**

**Starting a new au, featuring zooombies.**

**As usual, its Flippy/Splendid with some side pairings thrown in. Those side pairings are undecided as of now. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Splendid was fucked.<p>

And not even in the good way, he was running for his life, chest heaving with every breath as he felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. His navy blue hair streaming back against the wind, blowing harshly against his face, he was grateful for the red goggles he wore, it made this life just a tad easier.

The blue haired boy turned the corner sharply, skidding into an alley way and jumping over a fence before glancing around his surroundings and stopping to catch his breath, relaxing slightly when no moans or shuffling footsteps followed after him. God he hated having to on supply runs into the city. It creeped him out. A fallen empire, the ghost of its former glory

This whole epidemic had started around five months ago, when lucky patient zero had decided to take a bit out of his nurse, infecting her with a virus dubbed 'solarium' by the CDA a few weeks after the first outbreak. Soon after that first bite, everything went to shit as the world went to shambles as humanity was shaken to its very core.

Splendid was one of the lucky ones, he was out of town when it started, taking a trip to the old family cabin with his older brother Splendont. (Which, if he was being honest, was more of a villa tucked away in the forest at the base of sprawling mountains) They'd heard every news report from the grainy, old television and had decided to stay put for a little while longer than they had planned, waiting for the chaos to die down.

He was the one who found Flaky, a young girl who had just turned fifteen a few weeks prior to the outbreak. She'd been wandering the woods, a blood stained hammer clutched in her slender hands, her reddish brown eyes wide and terrified as she trekked through the underbrush.

Splendid ran straight into her, almost slamming his gloved fist into her face on instinct, when he heard her shriek and felt her hammer connect with his stomach. Splendid had stumbled back, gasping for breath and hoping that it hadn't done too much damage. Vaguely hearing her stammered apologies, he waved them off and grinned down at her, relived at finding a survivor. After brief introductions, he'd carried the slim girl back to the cabin and she'd been with them ever since.

It had just been the three of them for the first two months or so, scavenging from the small towns surrounding the city and neighboring cabins, but now supplies were running thin, and they had developed ties and alliances, tentative friendships with other groups of survivors.

Splendid had been chosen along with another scout from a neighboring group to gather supplies from the one major city in the area and so far, he hadn't seen a glimpse of the other yet. He sighed, a shiver wracking his frame at the bitter wind whistling through the city. Tightening his grip on his baseball bat and adjusting his goggles, he continued on, quietly picking his way through overturned trashcans and rubble. Maybe the alley wasn't such a good idea after all. Oh well, too late now.

He was grateful that these fuckers were blind, relying on sound and the scent of blood to target their victims. Pretty slow too, but terrifyingly strong and maybe one or two were easy to take on by yourself but get into a hoard and there almost no chance of survival. Slamming his baseball bat into the skull of a straggler, he grinned at the satisfying _crunch_ of bone as the corpse fell to the grimy pavement of the alley with a soft thump. It didn't move again. It was a clean hit, crushed the skull in and possibly damaged the brain. He raised the bat again and brought it down again and again until he was certain the brain the destroyed. It never hurt to double tap, there was no way in hell he was gonna die in some fucking city and possibly become one of them.

Wrinkling his nose at the smell and the spattering of reddish-black slime flecking his jacket, he shouldered his backpack and continued on. He wanted to be done with job and go home already! He made his way to the meet-up point that had been decided by Splendont and someone his older brother had referred to as 'Monk' whom Splendid had never met, but from what he'd gathered, was the leader, for lack of a better of term, of the group they were teaming up with. The place that had been chosen was outside an old movie theater, it had certainly seen better days than the middle of the zombie apocalypse, but it was a landmark, and not too close to the middle of the city.

Splendid tightened his grip on his bat as the theater came into view. Bright blue eyes scanning across faded posters displaying long forgotten movies. A reminder of the days of the past, and he couldn't help but feel a tug of nostalgia at the sight, a twinge of longing for the days where surviving was mostly taken for granted, when a normal afternoon wasn't spent teaching hand to hand combat to a group of teenagers. Innocence lost when the dead reanimated and the virus plagued their homes, families and friends.

He realized how lucky he had been when he'd found Flaky, whose entire family was slain by her hammer. They had turned while she was sleeping, and her survival instincts had kicked in at the last possible second, overruling her panic and terror, allowing her to brutally smash her way out of the house.

That niggling feeling of guilt and immense relief had only magnified when a trio of teenagers had joined them at the cabin. Two boys and one girl had stumbled onto the front porch. A short, blonde boy hanging limply between them, his weight supported by a gangly purple haired teen and slender girl with short, bubblegum-pink hair. When Splendid answered the frantic knocking on the door he was met with panicked cries of "_Please help us!" _and "_He's not bitten, he's not bitten! N-none of us are. You can check us over just help us stop the bleeding."_ Followed by "_His leg got caught in a bear trap, we g-g-ot opened it. But…" _

Without a second thought he ushered them inside and helped them to the best of his abilities, a wary Splendont watching over the procedure. They'd managed to save him and most of his leg. No amputation was needed and honestly, Splendid was almost positive would have died if they had decided to. The blond, Cuddles, was left with scars and a bad leg but his bubbly, if not mischievous personality hadn't been diminished by the hardship. Splendid kept it to himself though, the tallest of the three, Toothy wakes up screaming some nights and the petite girl, Giggles seems to be protective of both of the boys to an almost dangerous degree.

The twenty-year-old was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of muffled footsteps and with a quiet gasp he whirled around. Bat raised in preparation to beat the ever-loving hell out of whatever was coming up behind him and thankfully, managed not to follow through with the motion and stared up at the figure of what he assumed to be the other scout.

The acidic tang of gunpowder hit his nose along with the strong scent of tobacco, mixing in with the awful stench of the decay of the city, it was strong enough to make his eyes water slightly. Splendid blinked once, taking in a strong jaw, faint traces of stubble decorating it, brilliant green eyes rimmed with dark circles, currently regarding him with a cold gaze. His hair was a shade of forest green, growing out from what was once probably a fauxhawk or maybe a mohawk? Either way, most of it was hidden underneath a pale grey-green military hat.

He was a few inches taller, tall enough that Splendid had to tilt his head up to look him in the eyes, and the man carried himself with confidence, emanating almost a sense of apathy. Combat boots, standard issue army pants tucked into them. A simple black t-shirt with an open uniform jacket over it, dog tags gleaming, bright against the dark fabric. So they sent an army man, a sergeant. Well at least he'd be able to help him get the job done, right?

It was then, when the man opened his mouth to speak, it was deep and rough, raspy from smoke, no doubt. "Are you the kid that Splendont sent?" and Splendid didn't miss the man's hand twitch toward the knife sheathed on his belt. Blue eyes narrowing behind his goggles, his grip on his trusty bat tightened. "Are you Monk's scout?" he asked, tension draining from his body when the man nodded, hand falling away from the knife at his question.

Splendid grinned up at him, running a free hand through his navy locks, getting stray hairs out of his field of vision for the time being. "Good. Hah, I was a little worried you weren't gonna show up or you were dead or some shit." He rambled, scrambling to pull a crumpled sheet of paper out from the pocket of his jacket and making a halfhearted attempt to smooth it out, almost missing the quiet, slightly amused chuckle from the other man.

Splendid cocked his head in curiosity, his wide grin fading slightly at the soft reply of "I don't die easily." The blue haired boy blinked a few times, waiting for further elaboration, he received none. The green haired man adjusting his hat slightly and continuing, "You have a list of supplies, too? Alright. It'll make the job go a bit faster." Splendid's grin returned full force at that, proudly brandishing the list at the veteran. "Yeah, I passed by a mom-and-pop kind of grocery store on the way here. Wanna hit that first?" he asked, bouncing on the heels of his feet in an effort to get his circulation system a little more enthusiastic about its job. It was fucking cold out.

The man paused, chewing his lower lip as if he was calculating or planning and Splendid was relieved when he eventually nodded slowly in agreement. He grinned, stuffing the list back into his pocket and zipping the pocket back up. He watched as the veteran carefully folded his own slip of paper up, sliding it into the pocket of his pants. "Lead the way, kid." He murmured, gesturing for Splendid to start walking, and with that, they were off.

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><p>Flippy didn't know how to react to this situation. Military training didn't exactly teach you what to do when the head of another group sent you his kid brother to go on a supply run into one of the danger zones. What the fuck was he trying to pull? The kid couldn't be more than nineteen or twenty years old, and from the looks of it, never shut the fuck up.<p>

Brilliant.

At least it looked like he could wield that bat with ease.

He stayed slightly behind the boy as they walked, only half listening to his hushed chattering as he observed the navy haired boy. From what he gathered, he was quite obviously younger than Flippy, smooth, youthful features, blue eyes still bright and full of eagerness, despite the things that had happened in the past five months.

Maybe this kid was tougher than he looked. A windswept, tangled mess of navy blue hair that fell about mid-way down his neck, only partly kept in place by bright red ski goggles set firmly over the boy's eyes. Torn jeans, he noticed that the frayed holes around the knees of his pants were natural, maybe from a harsh fall or simply from constant distress or wear. A blue and white track jacket was zipped up to his collarbones and he could see red fabric of a shirt peeking out from underneath the jacket. The battered pair of tennis shoes he wore had clearly seen better days and they hit the pavement with a quiet _slap_ each time he took a step.

Flippy shook himself out of his musings and glanced around, green eyes alert as he took in his surroundings, a trail of rusty red blood was smeared down the pavement they walked upon, the stain ending in a puddle that had dried out long ago, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, that poor bastard. Tuning into the kid's ramblings, he cut him off with a simple question, "What's your name, kid?" and almost bumped into him on account of the other scouts abrupt stop.

A scowl spread across the veterans face as he nudged him forward, urging him to start moving again. It looked as if his action had spurred on an answer from the kid, as he turned to look back and grin at Flippy. "The names Splendid! I'm not a kid, dude!" he huffed slightly in irritation, Flippy supposed he didn't exactly like being called out on his young age. "Who are you, _old man_?" The veteran's green eyes widened slightly at the retort. He was twenty-six! Not even close to being an old man, thank you very much.

"Flippy." He rasped out through clenched teeth. "You're Splendont's little brother, aren't you?" he continued, increasing his pace so they were walking side-by-side, and to his surprise, the kid's smug grin grew into a full blown, eager, smile. "Yeah! You know him? Or have you just heard about him?" Well, there was clearly no trace of resentment in that relationship, maybe a bit a friendly rivalry? He shrugged at the question. "Nah, just heard about two brothers running a safe house deal up in the forest by the mountains. And then Monk got into contact with Splendont and here we are." The veteran explained, placing a hand on the small of Splendid's back, steering the younger man to the side to avoid a newsstand that had been knocked over, its contents strewn all over the place in disarray.

The yellowing pages void of sports columns and local news, all of them telling the people to get to safety, to leave as fast as they could or stay in and lock their doors. Flippy let out a hollow laugh as he caught sight of one claiming the government was taking care of things, which was bullshit. The government was one of the first things to collapse under the strain of chaos. The laugh got a curious glance from the kid walking beside him, "What's so funny?" he asked, blue eyes wide with curiosity and maybe a bit of confusion, a hint of a grin tugging at his lips. Flippy shook his head slightly, gesturing with the hand clutching his bowie knife towards the overturned newsstand, "Nothing really. Just. Makes you wonder how many people died following that advice." He murmured, sheathing his knife once more, shrugging as they came to a halt.

He swept his gaze over the run-down store front, taking in the flickering neon sign reading '_Dentz and Bentz' _A discount grocery store was a good of a start as any he figured. Sighing, he adjusted the straps of his backpack until it hung from one shoulder, making it easier to reach while gathering and waited for the other man to do the same. "I'm going to assume you've done this before, kid. Move as fast and as quietly as you can, remember the way we came in, and for the love of god, don't get yourself hurt. Splendont would fuckin' kill me if I let anything happen to you." He finished, earning a soft, disgruntled huff of air from the boy beside him. "Yeah, I know, I know. C'mon lets go. I don't wanna spend the night in the city." Flippy had to agree with that, it wasn't just dangerous, it was borderline suicidal to spend the night, to put yourself at such a disadvantage in this world. He allowed himself a small smile, his grip on the handle of his favorite bowie knife tightening slightly in apprehension, "Follow me then." With those words, he shouldered the cracked glass door open, letting the kid inside before nudging a stray box in the way of the door before it swung shut, leaving it slightly ajar. Always, _always _have an exit strategy.

Green eyes scanned over their surroundings, ignoring the aisles lined with spoiled foods and locating the canned foods, way in the back of the store. He suppressed a sigh, these things were never easy, were they? He stiffened, clamping his hand around Splendid's mouth, muffling the yelp of surprise and dragging the boy back to his side. Leaning down to murmur into the younger boy's ear, "_Shhh._ Don't make a fucking sound, kid." Flippy warned, letting the hand fall to his side once he felt Splendid nod slowly. "There are three or four of them grouped near the bottled water." He breathed, his voice little more than a whisper, "Which is one of the priorities. Hope you're good with that bat, you're gonna need it."

Briefly making sure Splendid was following him, Flippy carefully made his way through the debris and clutter and wasted no time driving his knife into the rotting flesh of one of the zombie's necks. Twisting harshly, severing the spinal cord and rendering it paralyzed, pausing to kick it to the ground before jamming it into the closests' right eye, making sure to keep his arm out of its reach and twirling the blade in a circular motion until it stopped it's sluggish movements and fell limp. Wrenching his knife out of its eye socket, he jumped in surprise, hearing the slightly hollow sound of metal striking something hard ringing far too close to his head. He turned slightly to see Splendid beating down one that had apparently gotten too close to him for comfort.

He felt his skin crawl in realization that could have been the end of him if it wasn't for the kid. Shaking his head he turned to the final one, probably an employee, if the uniform was anything to go by and drove the knife into the fucker's temple, jerking it back and forth in side to side motions. The veteran let out a small gasp as the blur of silver and blackish-red that was Splendid's bat came down with crushing force onto the skull, dislodging Flippy's knife and knocking the zombie to the gore splattered floor. He took a small step backwards, giving the younger man room to deliver a few quick, clean blows to the creature's head, the third strike killing it for good.

Offering Splendid a small grin, he wiped the blade of his knife off on the pants of his uniform before returning it to the sheath on his belt. "Thanks for covering me back there, kid. I probably would've been a goner if it wasn't for you-'' He stopped short as he caught sight of movement in his peripheral. Flippy's eyes widened as his arm shot out to shove Splendid into a shelf of microwavable foods, the action earning yelp and a "what the _fuck _dude?!" from the younger man. Flippy didn't really care, it meant the kid was away from the grasping hands of a zombie that had been crudely chopped in half from the waist down, part of its entrails still dragging along the blood encrusted linoleum floor.

A wild grin spread across the green haired man's face as he slammed his combat boot down on the cracked skull, stomping until he could see the diseased, grey and pink mess that was its brain, grinding his heel into it. Stopping only when its feeble motions stuttered to a halt, he let out a whooshing breath, removing his hat to run a mostly clean hand through his hair, getting the fallen strands out of his eyes and placing the hat back to its rightful place. Cracking his knuckles, he met the wide, blue eyes of Splendid with his own and let out a faint laugh, "Does this make us even then, kiddo?" he asked, kicking the now lifeless corpse to the side, clearing a path for Splendid to cross to the freezer section.

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><p>Splendid shook his head, ridding himself of the dazed feeling clouding his mind. He winced at the faint ache the movement caused and hauled himself to his feet. Letting out a disgruntled huff, feeling his face begin to grow hot as the blood rushed to his cheeks at the sound of the older man's laughter, he looked up into the amused face of Flippy and gave him a slight grin.<p>

"Maybe? I didn't know we were keeping track..." he trailed off, momentarily distracted by the sight of the gored zombie, Flippy's boot still dripping with brain matter and blood. He wrinkled his nose in disgust, tearing his gaze away from the ooze covering the once somewhat clean boots and focusing his attention back to the veteran. "Holy sh_it_." He breathed, grinning somewhat nervously at Flippy. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, dude." The blue-haired boy quipped and let out a muffled giggle at the retort of "You'll get there pretty damn fast if you don't hurry up and help me gather what we need." He quickly sobered up, Flippy was right, they had a job to do.

They quickly fell into a pattern, methodically hitting the smaller establishments after deciding that they would leave department stores alone. It was too big of a risk to take, they were big and would take too long to get out of in a pinch, plus who knows how many infected were inside? And so, for want of a better term, the two partners continued on through the wreckage of the city. Picking off stragglers that got in their way and splitting the supplies they gathered as equally as possible between the two of them.

Stretching, Splendid let out a soft whine when he felt his back and shoulders pop, releasing the tension there from kneeling down for so long. Shouldering his considerably heavier backpack back to its rightful place, he grinned up at the veteran, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. "Hell yes! I'm still not quite sure on how we managed to find a pretty much untouched pharmacy. Anxiety meds and painkillers and sleeping pills and gauze and disinfectant, man we're pretty much set for a while aren't we?" he rambled, practically thrumming with energy and excitement at finally finishing the job. Holy hell, was he eager to get the hell out of the condemned city, having one too many close calls for his liking.

He all but shoved Flippy out the door, not particularly caring about the wheeze of protest that came from the man or the solid arm that shot out to grab him by the collar of his jacket and haul him back to the veteran's side. Twisting around in the grip until Flippy let go, he grinned a bit sheepishly up at the clearly irritated man "Sorry, sorry. It's just- I'm going kind of stir crazy. I wanna get the fuck outta here." Splendid apologized, his words coming out in a rush. He slumped slightly in relief as Flippy shook his head in exasperation and to Splendid's surprise, ruffled his unkempt, navy tinted hair in what appeared to be a gesture of fondness.

Now in the time they had spent together, Splendid had figured out a few things about Flippy. First and foremost, he was a _badass_. An honest-to-god badass. Like, seriously? Who the fuck stomps a zombie's brains out? Apparently Flippy. Secondly was that he was either fond of nicknames, or fond of trying to irritate him. Splendid had been called kid by him so many times that he'd lost count by the fifteenth time, despite Flippy knowing very well that his name was Splendid.

Blinking a few times in confusion he glanced up at the other, trying to figure out what the hand tangled in his hair was all about, before the warm, gun calloused hand fell away and the veteran was adjusting his hat once more, his lower lip caught in his teeth, an expression becoming all-too-familiar, it meant one of two things, either 'Formulating a plan, talk to me and I'll feed you to the next infected we see.' Or 'I don't know why I did that, say anything about it and I'll feed you to the next infected we see.' So, Splendid didn't say a word about it, feeling a grin tug at the corners of his lips, he readjusted his grip on his bat and shrugged when Flippy spoke up again, an answer to his apology. "I know the feeling, kid." And after a brief pause, "Let's get you home to your brother, yeah?" the veteran rasped and Splendid looked at the sky for the first time in a while.

Taking in the dull, half-light of dusk, only broken by the occasional flickering streetlight. He nodded slowly, reaching out to curl his fingers into stiff material of the veteran's uniform jacket. For a few minutes there was only silence, and while that wasn't all that strange in this world, it wasn't frantic. Absent of terrified heartbeats and people trying to muffle panicked breathing. Nor was silent in the way a room seems to be with tense air and a stunned, hurt silence after a fight goes too far. It was a comfortable silence, two people standing still in the ruins of what once- and in a sick, twisted way, still is something.

That peaceful silence was shattered abruptly and without warning by the sharp, disconcerting, _ratatatat _of rapid gunfire. Letting a shout of surprise, Splendid stumbled forward, the force of impact tearing his him away from his hold on the veteran and sending him sprawling on the harsh, unforgiving surface of the pavement. He gasped at the intense, pulsing, pain blossoming around his right shoulder. His blue eyes widened as he felt blood, hot and wet sliding down his skin, soaking the fabric of his jacket and let out a choked, frantic, whimper. This was bad. Very, very bad.

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><p><strong>Sup? I'm always up for beating the shit out of Splendid. Heres part one of how ever many I decide to do of this particular au. Reviews will get you updates faster, lemme know what you think, what you want, i'm open to suggestions.<strong>


	7. Silences (2 of ?)

**Aaayyy. Haha an update so soon? How unlike me. Yep I'm a roll. Zombie aus always have a speacial in my heart.**

**I'm debating on doing character sketches for them? Lemme know if I should.**

**Anyway, enjoy Flippy musing on things and Splendid being a medication addled babe for a good half of the story**

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><p>He felt a strong, solid hand grasping at his good arm, the one that wasn't burning in pain and hauling him to his feet. The world turned and his vision blurred as he was swept into the veteran's arms with almost no effort on the others part. He blinked, trying to focus his vision on the strained face of the veteran. Splendid winced, and screwed his eyes shut at the pain shooting through his body with every jolt caused by Flippy running at breakneck speed in slight zig-zag patterns. The rough, uneven strides causing Splendid to bounce slightly in his grip. "…Flippy." He managed to wheeze out, receiving a sound that he could only describe as a snarl and a curt "<em>Fuck you." <em>in return. The smell of rot surrounding them, mixed with the scent of his own blood and the strange tobacco-gunpowder smell that he associated with Flippy was making his head spin, and not in the good way.

Every breath he took vaguely hurt, and he could feel his heart beating erratically, sending waves of pain through his body. He heard the sound of gunshots ringing out, and realized Flippy was shooting at something, Splendid couldn't tell what it was, and he couldn't crane his head far enough to look. He could only hope that the veteran knew what the hell he was doing. Tears of frustration pricked at the corners of his eyes as he began to see black spots eating away at the corners of his vision. His last thoughts came in a hysterical burst, and he could feel his mouth moving but couldn't quite focus enough to hear them. I can't afford to pass out, I have to help, _I don't want to die here!_

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><p>Flippy pushed the panic back to the back of his mind, he could have his panic attack later, when both of them made it out of the city alive. He let out a groan as he felt the fucking brat go limp in his arms, still startled from the scream of terror that had wrenched itself from Splendid's throat beforehand. Adjusting his grip on the younger man he continued running, dodging smashed wrecks of cars and jumping over the occasional corpse with one goal in mind, <em>to get them the fuck out of there.<em> His free hand was wielding his gun, keeping the dead at bay with precise aim and maybe a bit of luck.

Skidding slightly as he rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding bashing Splendid's head against a street pole. He cursed softly, hurriedly reloading his gun, fully aware that every second the unconscious kid in his arms lost a bit more blood, and the more blood he lost, the stronger the scent was, and the more zombies it would attract.

Shouldering Splendid so he was in a secure, fireman's hold instead of the risky bridal style he had been in Flippy continued on, following the markers he had made when he had first entered the city, so, so many hours ago. Chewing his bottom lip, he fired a quick shot into the head of a curious zombie and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his truck, the vague outline only visible to his trained eye. Flippy could hear the blood rushing in his ears and he surged forward, a well-placed kick sending a zombie toppling to the ground as he made his way over the hastily placed sandbag barricade someone had tried to set up.

He reached his truck, a battered old thing, the paint peeling in places and the metal rusting in others but it was strong and gotten him through this mess in mostly one piece. Throwing his pack in the bed of the truck and securing the tarp over it, he wrenched the passenger door open and carefully arranged the younger boy in the bench seat. Buckling the seatbelt over Splendid and counting his lucky stars that it was his right shoulder that had gotten shot and not his left.

Flippy would've liked to give him medical attention right then and there but it was too big of a risk to take, so close to the infected city and it being too close to night fall, the sun sinking lower with every passing minute. With a newer sense of urgency he quickly shut the door and hurried to the driver's side sliding into the car and jamming his key in the ignition. Glancing back over his left shoulder briefly, he pulled out of his parking spot and with a screech of burning rubber, he sped away from the hellhole of a city. He had a mostly full tank of gas, and if he could get the kid to wake up, then Splendid could give him exact directions to his base of operations. He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to look over the younger man.

He didn't look good, pale under the healthy shade of brown his skin was. His skin gleamed with sweat his dark blue was plastered to his forehead. Part of his jacket was absolutely soaked with blood, it looked like he had stopped bleeding by this point which was good, and Splendid didn't need to be losing any more blood, not with the lack of transfusions available. Flippy scowled at the sight of the sight of blood encrusting the other man's cheek, and if he tilted his head just the right way we could see the source of it. The kid had a nasty scrape running across part of his forehead, probably from when he'd hit the pavement.

_Shit._

Flippy could only hope he didn't have a concussion.

Turning his attention back to the empty, blood smeared road in front of him, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, it might sound kind of stupid, but the thing he found himself missing more than he thought he would was music. The radios were long dead, the preset tracks had run out after the first few weeks, and there was always the possibility of infected hearing the music and coming after the source. Even so, he still had a mess of CDs in the glove box of his truck, some in jewel cases, others simply held in plastic sleeves. It was almost always a temptation to slide one of them into his cd player and have it on the lowest volume setting possible.

He resisted this urge, and instead gave into another temptation, his cigarettes. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, he deftly opened the glove box with his other, being careful not to disturb the unconscious kid and with withdrew a small, square package. Flipping the lid off, he pulled one out with his teeth. Tossing the pack onto the seat, glancing to make sure it didn't land on Splendid, but on the space between them. Flippy fished around in his pocket for his lighter, a battered zippo, beginning to show tarnish from its age and wear.

After a few tries it finally lit, a flame appearing as reward for his efforts. Grinning in satisfaction, he lit the cancer stick and paused to stow his lighter back in his pocket before taking a long drag, rolling down the window to halfway before exhaling. Almost immediately he felt himself begin to calm down as the nicotine worked its way into his system, the edge of panic still there, but it was never truly gone. Still, it was almost back to the constant of vigilance that had saved his ass on more than on occasion.

He tapped the cigarette against the cool glass of the window, letting ashes and embers fly from the tip, only to cool almost immediately in the harsh wind. He laughed softly to himself as he took another drag, before this whole apocalypse, he had been trying to cut back. Then he figured, to hell with it. In this world, lung cancer was the least of his worries.

A weak cough tore him out of his thoughts and Flippy jumped slightly, his grip tightening instinctively on the steering wheel as he glanced over at the boy from the corner of his eye. The kid would probably be waking up soon, and be in a helluva lot of pain. Getting shot was never any fun, he knew from experience. He felt a twinge of pain come from a puckered mess of scar tissue that marred the upper left part of his chest. An old wound from his days in the army, the one where the bullet had exploded and he'd had to dig out the shrapnel with his own knife.

Shaking his head and rubbing absentmindedly at the scar, Flippy scanned the road for a good place to pull over. He'd need to tend to Splendid as soon as he woke up, he might as well prepare for the inevitable shitstorm now. He pulled into the lot of a forgotten ice cream shop, its cheery colors looking far out of place in this bleak situation. Killing the engine, he carefully unbuckled the younger man. Gently pushing him forward in order to get his backpack off of him. Letting him rest back to his original position, Flippy unzipped the main pocket, rummaging around until he found one of the bottles of painkillers they'd scavenged earlier and a bottle of water, already half empty as they'd both shared it after the grocery store incident.

He opened the door of his truck slowly and carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible. He didn't think there would be any infected lurking around, if there were though, he sure as hell wanted to have the upper hand. Gripping his knife tightly in his left hand he shut the door and made his way to the bed of his truck, shoving aside the packages of water bottles and grabbing the backpack he had thrown there in a panic a few hours ago.

Moving quickly, he secured the tarp once more and hopped back into the truck, starting it once more and pulled out of the old lot, anxious to get out of there, staying out in the open or sometimes even staying in the same place made him nervous. Anything could happen after all. Once he was on the road he let himself relax, just a tad.

He had a good idea of the general direction to go to get to the mountains, almost everyone did, they were a pretty big landmark. It was the tangled, sprawling mass of forest that he would need Splendid's help to get through. Once he made sure he was on the right road to take him to dense forest he pulled another cigarette out of the pack and lit it up, he could feel the stress coming back ten-fold as the magnitude of the situation began to fully sink in. He quickly pulled over at a viewpoint, if he was going to have a panic attack, it sure as hell wasn't going to be in a moving vehicle.

_Fuck._

_I fucked it up._

_ Splendid got shot._

_ I mean, it wasn't by me._

_ It was by some fucking sniper stationed in the city._

_ But he got hurt. _

_He got hurt at my expense and his older brother isn't going to be happy with this._

_ I wouldn't even have the right to put up a fight against him though, even if I wanted to._

Letting out a shaky breath, smoke curling idly from his mouth at the exhale. Flippy unclenched his trembling hands from the steering wheel, flexing his stiff fingers as he willed himself to calm down. He steeled his nerves with another long, drag from the cancer stick. He was a solider, dammit! A fucking sergeant at that. Everything would be fine, he wouldn't fuck up again. He'd be fine, the kid would heal from his injuries, and both of their groups would have a much needed supply refill.

Flicking the buildup of ash away, he let it dangle between his lips as he took his hat off, noting with a pleased hum that his hands had stopped shaking. Shaking his head, Flippy combed his fingers through his vibrant green hair, sweeping back the stubborn part of his bangs that always seemed to want to flop into his eyes. Placing his hat back on his head, he took another drag and slowly exhaled, letting his head thump back against the headrest.

The veteran turned his head to look at the kid and then glanced at the truck's digital clock. It was 8:26 p.m. quite a ways away from sunrise. He turned his attention back to Splendid and worried his bottom lip between his teeth. He had to make a decision. He could either wake the kid up right now get the process of dressing and cleaning the wound over with. He could try to let him sleep through him patching up, which would be nearly impossible. Or he could wait until they made it to his brother, which would be stupid.

He choose the first option.

Sighing and taking one last drag from the cigarette, he stubbed it out in the ash tray and left the butt there, still smoldering slightly. Flippy took a good look at the sleeping figure of the younger man in the dim light. The moon was waxing, it'd be full in a few days' time and the moonlight was bright, giving a bit of light to the otherwise pitch black darkness of night. This little bit of illumination crept through the smudged windows of the truck, letting just enough in to allow Flippy to see Splendid, his features washed out and silvery in the moonlight.

He reached out and lightly brushed the younger man's disheveled, navy hair out of his eyes, pulling the fingerless glove off his other hand to feel Splendid's forehead. It was clammy and slightly sticky from sweat that hadn't completely dried, but it wasn't burning with a fever, and it wasn't icy cold. Good. This was a very good thing. He let his gloveless hand slip down to cup his companion's cheek. He felt his heart clench at the sight of the energetic boy limp and motionless, his brow furrowed in slight discomfort, sleep obviously wasn't completely muting the pain.

If he was being honest with himself, he actually found the damn kid pretty attractive. Wide blue eyes, tan skin, and an ever-present, cocky grin. It was a pity those pretty, chapped lips never fucking stopped moving. But maybe, that was part of the charm. But Flippy was rarely completely honest with himself, it was a rule of thumb.

His hand lingered on the smooth skin for a few seconds too long before letting it fall to the boy's good shoulder and gently shaking him until the boy awoke with a gasp and low moan of pain. He watched, moving back slightly to give Splendid room, he'd learned from experience that it was entirely possible for a squad mate to jump you and try to beat the shit out of you after waking up scared, confused and in pain.

Splendid did neither, instead looked around in a sort of daze, clutching faintly at the blood-soaked sleeve of his jacket with his good arm. The navy-haired man licked at his dry lips and managed a soft "It reeks like cigarettes in here. Gross." his voice rough and raspy from sleeping for the better part of three or so hours.

Flippy's eyes widened in surprise and he let out an astonished bark of laughter, shaking his head in exasperation and wonder at the younger man's comment. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from the boy, but certainly not that. He shrugged once his laughing fit subsided, and shot a crooked grin in Splendid's direction. "I just put one out. After smoking two while you were dead asleep in my car." He explained, unscrewing the cap off the bottle of painkillers and pulling out two, offering them, along with the bottled water to the younger man.

He watched as Splendid popped the little white pills into his mouth and with some help from Flippy, worked the cap off the bottle and drained it in huge gulps. The veteran wasn't all that surprised by it, the kid had lost a lot of fluids. Wordlessly, he offered a second bottle to the younger man who took it with a grateful smile.

For a few minutes, the only sounds in the car were the soft sounds of plastic crackling and Splendid's slightly labored breathing. Flippy waited until the younger man was finished getting his fill of water before breaking it. He bit his lip, choosing his words carefully. "Kid, I gotta see your shoulder. It's happening whether you want it to or not." He watched the expression on Splendid's face turn from confused, to a look of realization and finally a look of reluctant acceptance. He bit back laughter when he noticed the tinge of pink coloring his cheeks in the dim light.

The navy-haired man shrugged, wincing when he unconsciously rolled his injured shoulder, a pained whine escaping his mouth along with a strained "Fucking go for it, dude. Jus' uh. Wear a pair of rubber gloves when you do it, I don't want zombie blood in me, no thank you." He babbled, tugging the zipper of his jacket down and shrugging his good arm out of the jacket before setting to work on carefully peeling the now rusty red fabric away from his arm with a few strained gasps of pain.

Flippy blinked a few times, reaching out to stop Splendid from trying to peel his blood encrusted t-shirt off, laying a gentle hand on the navy-haired man's wrist. "No. Don't do that. I'll cut your shirt off. It's probably clotted to the wound." He paused, to dig a battered first-aid kit out of his own pack, popping the lid open and pulling out a pair of gleaming, silver scissors. His tone softened as he noticed Splendid's nervous grin and wide eyes. "C'mon, kid. You think I'd risk my ass getting you outta there only to stab you with a pair of scissors? No."

Flippy shifted so he was facing Splendid entirely, and made a beckoning motion with the hand not holding the scissors. "Face the window, put your back to me." He coaxed, noticing Splendid's slight hesitation. Eventually, the younger man slumped slightly, the tension visibly draining from his shoulders as he gingerly maneuvered himself so he was staring out the window, its glass slightly fogged over from the heat emanating from them. Flippy hummed in approval, reaching up to flick the overhead lights on, providing a dim light from the old bulbs, casting the cabin of the truck in a soft yellow glow. It wasn't very good light, but it was better than just moonlight. He snagged a pair of standard, blue rubber gloves from the first aid kit and pulled them on, a soft _snap _resounding through the small space.

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><p><p>

Splendid tensed at the feeling of cool metal against his skin, wincing as the ruined fabric came away, pulling fine hair and irritating skin. He still felt kind of woozy, but the pain meds were starting to kick in and the pain in his shoulder was reduced to a dull throb by the time he felt the blades of Flippy's scissors snip through the rest of his shirt. He screwed his eyes shut and bit his lip as the veteran cut through the seam on his good shoulder. Gently pushing the fabric so it fell away with little resistance. He tensed for a completely different reason as he felt Flippy shift closer, laying a firm hand on the back of Splendid's neck and guiding him so that his forehead was pressed against the cool glass of the window.

He felt his face start to burn at the touch, the texture of the rubber glove was foreign and strange on his skin, but his hand was warm and comforting. "Sorry, I need more light for this part." He heard the veteran murmur, breath hot against his skin and Splendid could only nod and manage a faint "Yep." Wincing at how breathless he sounded. This was most certainly not the time for his body to react to being touched. Especially not after he'd been shot, and _especially_ because it was Flippy who was touching him.

What happened next completely killed off any sparks of arousal that had begun to curl down his spine at the strange sense of intimacy between them. He jolted, biting down hard on his lower lip to muffle the whimper of pain that escaped when Flippy peeled away the rest of his shirt, taking away with it the fresh scab and clotting blood that had formed over the bullet hole.

He shuddered, back arching away from the slight sting of air on the open wound. He could feel the hand on his neck slip away and grasp for something out of his line of sight. The meds were really kicking in now, and he felt muddled and a bit slow. Shaking his head a little and letting his eyes close, he tried to rid himself of the sense of drowsiness. Splendid vaguely registered the veteran's deep baritone in his ear and he could only manage a strained "Whh." Before his eyes snapped open in shock and a cry of pain bubbled up, only to be muffled by Flippy clamping a hand over his mouth. His chest heaved as his back arched in a useless attempt to escape the pain caused by the disinfectant that the veteran poured over his injury. Tears sprang to his eyes as his bucking motions caused a dull wave of pain to course through him at moving his bad shoulder.

He spluttered as Flippy moved his hand away from his mouth, letting out a shaky breath as he composed himself, the strange taste of chemical from the rubber glove still on his tongue. "Flippy-" he paused, taking a deep, steadying breath. "Flippy 'm gonna fucking kill you." He twisted his head around as best as he could in his current position to glare at the older man. "That was a dick move yanno, you could at least give me some warning when you're gonna dump hydrogen peroxide on it." He let out an irritated huff when Flippy only shrugged at him in return, his lips turned down in a slight scowl and green eyes full of concern. "Sorry kid, I told you what I was going to do and you just wheezed at me."

Splendid had no reply to that, so he simply slumped back against the window, letting his forehead thunk softly against the glass, the cool temperature making him shiver slightly. He was wide awake now, and in minimal pain. He swiped his tongue over his teeth in a last attempt to get the horrid taste out of his mouth and sighed when his efforts were in vain. "I'm alright now. Bandage it or whatever, man." He muttered, hearing the soft _whhhsh _of gauze unraveling andshifting obligingly when the veteran's hands returned to his skin. He let out a soft grunt of discomfort as Flippy pressed a thick layer of padding onto the wound, securing it with medical tape.

Splendid squirmed under the gentle pressure as the veteran wiped up the mess left from the disinfectant. He let out a sigh of relief when Flippy informed him that he did the best he could do at the moment, and that he could move around. Splendid braced himself, gingerly shifting so his back was once more against the cracked leather seat and noted with a pleased hum that he could barely feel the pain from his shoulder. Only a dull, throbbing ache remained, and that could be ignored for the most part.

He blinked a few times in confusion when Flippy snapped his fingers in front of his face once or twice and turned to face him, letting out a soft hiss when a penlight was shone into his eyes. "What the hell're you doing that for, dude?" Splendid asked, tensing up as the older man surged forward, the penlight clenched between his teeth. "Checkin' you for concussion symptoms." Came the slightly muffled reply, and then Flippy loomed above him, grabbing his goggles and with a surprising amount of gentleness, pulled them away from his face and letting them dangle around his neck. Splendid rubbed at his eyes, it always felt weird taking his goggles off after wearing them for so long. When he removed his hands Flippy was rooting through the first aid kit again and his stomach knotted in apprehension, what did he need it for? His shoulder was taken care of, wasn't it?

Flippy looked up and met his gaze with a slight scowl. "I almost forgot about your head wound. You had quite the fall back there, kiddo." Splendid grimaced, feeling the dried blood crack as he opened his mouth to talk, how had he not noticed that before? "Ew. I'm not concussed, I can tell that much. I feel completely fine, aside from the background radiation pain from my shoulder." He watched as Flippy shoved the first aid kit aside and moved closer to him, rubber gloves discarded to the matting at their feet. "Even so, I still have to take care of the cut, don't I?" After a brief pause while he wetted a cotton ball with disinfectant. "C'mere kid. After that shoulder, this'll be a breeze." Splendid couldn't argue with that, so he complied, shifting closer to the veteran and congratulated himself on not flinching when the older man placed a steady hand on the back of his neck, dragging him closer still.

Splendid swallowed hard, he was close enough that he could see the faint smattering of freckles across the bridge of the veteran's nose, and feel his breath ghosting across his skin. Flippy's eyes flickered to meet his own and the hand fell away from his neck, coming up to sweep Splendid's hair back and away from his face. Splendid could feel himself flushing in embarrassment as the older man started scrubbing at the dried blood with the cotton swab. Flippy's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, with his lower lip caught between slightly sharp teeth. Splendid's hands fluttered uselessly, he didn't know where the fuck to put them. After maybe a minute or two, he hesitantly fisted them in stiff material of the veteran's military jacket. He felt intensely bare, hyper aware of the hand tangled in his hair, the dizzying scent of tobacco, blood, gunpowder and hydrogen peroxide. His shoulder vaguely ached and the leather seats were sticking to his bare skin. A prickle of discomfort and maybe something else crawled down his spine as goosebumps rose on his skin. It was official, he was completely fucked.

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><p><strong>Time for aftercare and Splendid having the horrible realization that he finds Flippy attractive.<strong>

**Uh. Anyway let me know if you want anything in particular to happen, I'm always up for beating the shit out of characters I love. c:**

**Reviews would be totally rad, I like to know if you guys are reading and or enjoying this little AU.**


	8. Silences (Part three of ?)

**Heyyy guess who finally got the next part done? Me. The answer is me.**

**Enjoy part three guys!**

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><p>Flippy would be lying if he said he didn't notice the kid's weird behavior. He'd be lying if he said it didn't take him long to put two and two together and realize that the brat was embarrassed beyond belief. He'd also be lying if he said he wasn't incredibly amused by it. It was either a very good, or a very bad thing that Flippy was never honest with himself.<p>

The veteran said nothing though, as far as he could tell, there was no need to. He hummed, a tune low in his throat as he pulled away from his companion briefly, carefully dislodging the kid's grip on him to toss the dirty cotton swab to the floor and grab a fresh one. Soaking it thoroughly in disinfectant, he turned back to Splendid and shot him a crooked grin as he took in his current state.

The poor kid was pressed flat against the bench seat, his entire frame was tense with nerves and he was red in the face. Flippy bit back a bemused smile as he leaned back toward Splendid, carefully ignoring the way the kid tensed under his touch. Sliding a hand through disheveled hair, he swept it to the side and up off Splendid's forehead, observing his work so far. He'd managed to clean most of the blood away and was pleased when the cut hadn't been as bad as he feared. There were shards of granite and dirt in the scrape though, he'd have to pluck those out. After all, no sense in leaving them in there.

He got to work, gently scrubbing the rest of the blood away from Splendid's face. It was methodical, almost easy. He'd done this before, for squad mates, friends, himself, and on one colorful occasion, a dying enemy. Dressing wounds was something that came to him with little effort, and when you'd had as much practice doing it as him, it really shouldn't take much.

Flippy shifted slightly, the bloody cotton ball joining the other soiled one on the matted floor beneath them as the veteran grasped for the pair of tweezers he kept in the first aid kit for occasions such as this. Well, for occasions like this one. He'd never had to deal with a shirtless kid that'd been shot in the shoulder, who had the worst case of motor mouth he'd ever seen, in his car, during a god forsaken apocalypse. Yeah, that was a new one.

Shaking his head in amusement, and maybe a bit of exasperation, he clamped the tweezers in his teeth while he settled himself back in front of Splendid. He carded a hand through his navy tinted locks once again, they were still a bit damp from sweat, and a small part was matted with dried blood. Flippy didn't exactly mind, he'd been through far more unpleasant things. Flippy briefly used his free hand to grasp under Splendid's chin, using gentle force to tilt the kid's head back so he was looking up at him. He met the kid's eyes for a few moments and bit his lip, worrying the flesh between his teeth.

Splendid's pupils were blown wide. It could mean that he apparently liked what he saw, or that he was straining to see in the half light, but it could also mean that he was concussed. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in, a decided to chalk it up to bad lighting, after all he hadn't shown any of the major, telltale concussion symptoms yet.

The kid wasn't dazed or confused for prolonged moments of time, and his reaction time was fairly fast.

He was probably fine.

A strange silence hung in the air, as it had for quite a while. It was heavy with unspoken words and questions, settling over the two companions in a thick, dense silence that had, and would continue to be stretched for several minutes. For the moment, it was only broken by Splendid's slightly uneven breathing, a bit too quick, and a bit too shallow than normal, and contrasted by Flippy's deep, if not slightly raspy breaths.

Maybe, if it were a different world, Splendid would have reached up with his good arm, tangled his fingers in Flippy's hair and dragged him down for an impromptu kiss. Maybe, if it was some alternate universe, Flippy would have thrown his head back and laughed before ducking down to kiss Splendid, muffled giggles from the both of them breaking the awful silence. In another world, this would be a movie or a school play, the director would yell "cut!" and they would grin at each other, another scene rehearsed and filmed. Maybe in another world, Flippy would wake up, drenched in cold sweat and panting, but he would look over and see the sleeping figure of Splendid and he could rest easy for at least another day.

But it wasn't.

It wasn't any of those, they trapped in a despairing, decaying world. Full of ruin and the final destination for every last one of them was desolation and death. There was no stopping it, no childish hope of discovering a cure, or for humans to fight back and reclaim the earth. Death would come for each and every one of them sooner or later. The only factors were how long it would take, how it would happen, and who they would leave behind.

So, the silence was broken by Flippy clearing his throat and murmuring a "Stay still, kid. You have you slivers of gravel and dirt in there, I gotta get 'em out." Followed by the quick reply of "Alright, get it over with already, dude." Splendid gave a wide, if not a little nervous grin. Flippy could feel his fingers tapping idly across his back, it was almost relaxing. Flippy scoffed softly at him, an amused smile playing at the corners of lips. Removing the hand from Splendid's chin to grab the tweezers and get to work. He could smell blood, sweat, traces of tobacco, and over it all was the sharp scent of hydrogen peroxide. It was nothing new, he almost didn't notice it at first. But there was the underlying scent of something different. Something unique to the kid in his truck. It was musky and almost minty. Like dead leaves, freshly chopped wood and evergreen, or maybe spearmint. It was odd, but not exactly unpleasant.

He glanced at the clock again, the block numbers telling him it was only 10:32. They still had a ways to go. Sighing softly, he turned his focus back to Splendid once more. The kid was rambling at him now, talking a mile a minute about something or someone that Flippy didn't know. He actually tuned into what Splendid had to say now, what else was there to do?

"-Then there's this girl, right? Really, really tiny. Like, my hand can wrap around her wrist twice. Twice. She's that small. Long, long red hair, or she did anyway. Splendont cut it into this short pixie cut. Because you don't want a zombie grabbing you the hair and draggin' you down nope." Flippy nodded in agreement, carefully sticking a large Band-Aid across the cut, gently smoothing down the edges with the tips of his fingers and working out any air bubbles that had gotten trapped under the adhesive. "Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Who is she?" he questioned, his curiosity peaked. Splendid hadn't mentioned any other family besides his older brother. Splendid grinned at him, his blue eyes glinting with pride as he unconsciously reached up to poke at the bandage, huffing when Flippy knocked his hand away.

Flippy paused, looking over Splendid once more and nodded in satisfaction, that was as good as the kid was gonna get until they made it to the cabin. He bit his lip, leaning back to take his hat off and sweep his hair away and out of his eyes. He needed a haircut soon. Placing his hat back to its rightful place, the veteran made quick work of shrugging the jacket of his uniform off and tossing it at Splendid. It was late fall, and too cold for the damn kid to be shirtless.

He shook his head in exasperation, letting an amused snort escape him at the slack jawed expression plastered across Splendid's face. "Put it on." He instructed, cutting off any protest from the younger man with a scowl and a firm stare. "Don't try to fight me on it, kid. I'm gonna have to turn the car off soon so I don't waste gas." Splendid fell silent, his cheeks flushed as he gingerly straightened the jacket out and pulled it on. He struggled with the zipper briefly, before giving up and leaving it half open. It was a little too big for him, the sleeves ending at his palms instead of his wrists, the kid's shoulders were a bit too narrow to fill it out properly. Flippy gave him a slightly crooked grin, shifting so he was in the driver's seat again, watching as Splendid fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket.

The kid was in the process of rolling up the cuffs so they weren't in the way of using his hands. Splendid grinned at him and lilted out a "Thank you!" before scooting back so he was leaning against the window, legs sprawled across the length of the bench seat, the action earning an irritated wheeze from the veteran. Flippy eyed the dirty sneakers with disdain before shoving Splendid's legs sideways so they dangled off the bench seat, a smug smirk gracing his lips as he caught sight of the kid glaring at him, chapped lips protruding in a slight pout. Flippy killed the engine, leaning back against the worn leather seat, turning his head so he could keep an eye on the younger man.

Splendid grinned over at him, emanating such a strong sense of enthusiasm that Flippy almost laughed. He motioned for him to continue his story, which the younger man practically leaped at the chance to do so. "I found her, wandering in the woods- with a hammer. That's it. No knife, no backpack, a fucking hammer. She nailed me in the stomach with it, but to be fair I almost punched her in the face." Flippy raised an eyebrow at him, a half grin playing at the corners of his mouth at Splendid's retelling. "Really now. I don't know if I should be impressed or if I should tell you off for trying to punch what could have been a zombie." he muttered, his voice taking on a teasing undertone as he watched the kid throw his head back and laugh at the comment. "Shut up dude, it was maybe a month after the outbreak? Punching things was still my instinct back then- anyway you're getting me off track."

Flippy let the kid talk at him for a while, a good two hours or so. It seemed that Splendid never ran out of things to say. As a result, he'd learned quite a bit about the younger man, and divulged some information about himself as well, it was only fair. He'd learned that the girl Splendid had rambled about was Flaky, and that she was the youngest at the camp, clocking in at fifteen years old. He learned that Splendid himself was twenty-one, soon to be twenty-two if he didn't die before the end of the month. Surprisingly enough, the kid claimed to be an excellent baker, and judging by the pride evident in his voice, he was telling the truth. or exaggerating. Flippy decided to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. What surprised the veteran the most though, was the fact that he didn't exactly mind listening to the kid ramble at him. The realization settled over him in a blanket of uneasiness, tinged with dread. He was beginning to genuinely care about this dumbass of a kid.

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><p>All in all, Splendid was feeling pretty good. His shoulder barely hurt, he could ignore the occasional twinges of pain it caused him. He wasn't dead, they finished the supply run, and he wasn't half naked anymore thanks to Flippy giving him his jacket (though he didn't exactly have a choice in the matter.) Splendid hummed softly to himself, falling silent as he watched Flippy carefully light up another cigarette and take a long drag from it, smoke billowing out and curling upwards as the veteran exhaled. The scent of tobacco quickly filled the air. It was a welcome change for once, covering the smell of peroxide that still hung in the air from earlier.<p>

He hadn't realized he'd spaced out until Flippy was snapping his fingers in front of his face, a slight scowl on his face, the cancer stick dangling between his lips. "Snap out of it kiddo. I need your help with something." He rasped around the cigarette and Splendid grinned at him, shaking his head with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, sorry man. Uh-" he paused, cocking his head slightly at the statement. "Whatcha need help with?" he asked, letting out an irritated wheeze as he ran his good hand through his hair, getting his bangs out of his eyes.

"Directions. I don't exactly know how to get you back home, now do I?" the veteran snarked at him, his eyes drifting shut as he took another drag from the cigarette. Splendid's eyes widened in realization and he felt a grin tug the corners of his mouth upward, a slightly sheepish sound escaping his throat. "Oh- yup I need to give you those, don't I?" he spoke, more so thinking out loud than asking an actual question. Even so, Flippy nodded his head in confirmation, expelling the smoke in a slow sigh of air.

Splendid pointedly ignored the way the veteran's lips pursed, and how the older man's cheeks hollowed slightly. Splendid swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry for reasons he refused to acknowledge. "I can do that just fine, luckily for you, I know these woods like the back of my hand." he proclaimed, pride and a bit of cockiness creeping into his voice. He'd been exploring the woods since he was a kid, and knew every winding trail that the forest had to offer, why shouldn't he be confident about being a navigator for Flippy?

His statement earned a rasping scoff of laughter from the veteran as he tapped away the buildup of ash from the cigarette into the ashtray on the dashboard of the truck. "Good, Can you do it in the dark? We've been here too long as it is. Too risky to spend the night parked on a viewpoint anyway." Flippy had murmured those last words, and Splendid had a feeling that those words weren't meant for him. Splendid nodded, a sense of eagerness filling him at the prospect of being able to return home. "Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem, I've navigated for Splendont plenty of times before. I fuckin' got this dude." He quipped, tapping his fingers against the leather seats in anticipation.

He waited, humming a few bars of a song that had been popular before the outbreak, if he remembered correctly, it dealt with good days and something about dreams, it didn't really matter now anyway, it just wasn't relevant. He watched as Flippy jammed the key in the ignition and shifted into the correct gear, releasing the clutch slowly for a smooth start. Splendid watched the surroundings become familiar, the road in front of them illuminated by the headlights of Flippy's truck. "Take the first left you come to, and follow it until I tell you to turn again." He informed the veteran, eyes flickering over look at Flippy for confirmation that the older man had heard him.

Flippy nodded, not bothering to signal and turned onto the road that veered left, taking them deeper into the sprawling woods. "Gotcha." Came the brief answer and Splendid blinked at him, waiting for further response.

His silence was rewarded with the veteran sighing slightly, and glancing at Splendid out of the corner of his eyes, brow furrowed in either irritation or thought. Splendid couldn't tell, it could be both considering it was Flippy. "Would I be able to stay a day or so? At you and your brother's place. I'll need to sleep before I head back to Monk's camp." The older man rasped after maybe a minute or so of silent driving. Flippy's eyes were fixed firmly on the road, his bottom lip caught between sharp teeth. Splendid let out a soft laugh at the question, blue eyes glinting in amusement. "Sure thing dude. I'm pretty sure we have room for ya." He answered, a wide grin spreading across his face at the reprimanding glare Flippy shot at him for laughing.

Splendid's eyes widened as he cut off whatever Flippy had been about to say to him as he pointed to a barely discernable fork in the road. "Go there! Turn kind of sharp, it's a tight curve." He ordered, relieved they hadn't missed it. Thanks to Flippy's fast reaction timing, the veteran managed to get them onto the correct path of travel. "This road should lead you straight to it, go slow, there are a helluva lot of turns." he warned the older man, and received a hum of acknowledgement in return.

Squirming around a bit, he managed to get himself back into a comfortable position, the road was rough and uneven, and while most of that was on purpose to deter stragglers from deciding to go down, it certainly wasn't fun going down it in an old truck with shitty suspension with bullet in your shoulder. Still, it sure as hell beat walking.

He wrinkled his nose at the foreign feeling of a jacket that wasn't his draped across his frame. Normally he wouldn't have minded, but he didn't have a shirt on underneath it, and the inside wasn't at all soft. It was smooth, almost slippery in texture and it glided against his bare skin, trapping the heat emanating from him and keeping him relatively warm. It smelled like blood and gunpowder, tobacco overshadowing most everything else, but there was a hint of something sweet and smoky that Splendid couldn't place.

Shaking his head slightly to rouse himself out of thoughts, he snuck a glance at the veteran out of the corner of his eyes. The black T-shirt was tight against the other's skin, and he could see faint outlines of muscles underneath the dark fabric. His arms were a mess of scars, some looked self-inflicted, and some were old battle scars, from his military service no doubt. Splendid jolted when Flippy caught his eye, and Splendid's eyes narrowed when he caught the hint of a smirk on the others face. "Eyes on the road kiddo." He rasped around a cigarette dangling from his lips, letting out an amused snort of laughter. Splendid felt his face grow hot and snapped back with a quick retort of "I'm not the one driving, old man."

Their playful banter was cut short by a rather impressive sight looming before them, they'd reached the 'family cabin.' And Flippy let out a low whistle at the cluster of large houses dotted around the plot of land. Protected by fences of barbed wire around the entire clearing, and then individually around the four main centers. Splendid grinned over at him, pride and maybe a bit of embarrassment visible in his voice as he spoke. "Uh. Yeah- its. More of a villa than anything else." He saw Flippy shake his head slightly, an exasperated half grin on his face as he killed the engine, sliding the key out of the ignition and stowing it away into his pants pocket before turning to face him. "Well," the veteran said after a moment or two. "No sense in waiting, lets get going."

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><p><strong>Aaand that was that. Flippy babe do you realize that staring into your friend's eyes for like. ten minutes is hella gay? Cus it is. I promise things will pick back up next chapter, and new characters will be introduced! Also how would you guys feel about things moving past the T rating? Cus I might throw in some smut later. Review and let me know?<strong>


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